Emergency preparedness game

ABSTRACT

The present invention is directed to an educational game to teach emergency preparedness to a plurality of players. The game comprises a game board containing a series of spaces on which each player can land. The spaces include a first plurality of spaces instructing a player to acquire a playing card, a second plurality of spaces instructing a player to acquire funds for use in an emergency and a third plurality of spaces of a simulated emergency. A set of playing cards is also present, each card having a depiction of a resource which can be utilized in one or more emergencies. The game also includes a fund of play money, a number of playing pieces to provide each player with an individual playing piece, and a means for randomly determining a number of spaces on the game board to be moved by each player in turn for each player to land on a space on the board.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to board games and in particularto a new useful and educational board game based on preparing foremergencies.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Emergency situations can be catastrophic causing many difficulties. Suchemergency situations can arise from naturally occurring events such asextreme weather conditions of storms including hurricanes, tornadoes,flooding from excessive rainfall, etc. Emergencies can also be humancaused from accidents such as train derailments, airplane crashes or caneven arise from deliberate activities such as terrorism. In order toalleviate the potential damages associated with emergencies, it isnecessary for personnel responsible for handling emergency situations tobe properly trained such that they can react quickly and accurately toany situation which can arise. One commonly employed training method foremergency preparedness is to run mock exercises where various types ofemergencies are simulated in order to train personnel to reactappropriately to these emergency situations. At the completion of suchexercises, there is generally a discussion so that the persons takingpart in the exercise can more properly understand the reactions toemergency situations and the potential outcomes of those reactions.

While mock exercises are common for education and training in a numberof areas, there are drawbacks to such training exercises. The cost andeffort involved in conducting these exercises can be significant,requiring many months of planning and involving a significant number ofpersonnel from a number of different departments. In addition, for thegeneral public, it is difficult to provide exercises to educate them onemergency preparedness. In a number of different areas, other educationand training tools have been proposed and employed such as computersimulations and even board games.

There have been a number of examples of board games utilized for variouseducational purposes. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,805,351 describes alawsuit board game useful as a teaching aid to describe legal disputesand their resolutions. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,786,486 describes afishing board game for entertaining and educating novice fishermen.

It would therefore be useful to develop a board game which could beutilized as an educational tool for training for emergency preparedness.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to an educational game to teachemergency preparedness to a plurality of players. The game comprises agame board containing a series of spaces on which each player can land.The spaces include a first plurality of spaces instructing a player toacquire a playing card, a second plurality of spaces instructing aplayer to acquire funds for use in an emergency and a third plurality ofspaces of a simulated emergency. A set of playing cards is also present,each card having a depiction of a resource which can be utilized in oneor more emergencies. The game also includes a fund of play money, anumber of playing pieces to provide each player with an individualplaying piece, and a means for randomly determining a number of spaceson the game board to be moved by each player in turn for each player toland on a space on the board.

In an aspect of the invention there is provided a method of playing aneducational game to teach emergency preparedness for a plurality ofplayers. The method of playing the game comprises the steps of firstproviding a game board containing a series of spaces on which eachplayer can land. The spaces include a first plurality of spacesinstructing a player to acquire a playing card, a second plurality ofspaces instructing a player to acquire funds for use in an emergency anda third plurality of spaces of a simulated emergency. A plurality ofplaying pieces and a fund of play money are provided. A set of playingcards is also provided each having a depiction of a resource which canbe utilized in one or more emergencies. A means for randomly determininga number of spaces on the game board to be moved by each player in turnfor each player to land on a space on the board is also provided. Theplayer uses the means for randomly determining the number of spaces forhim to move his playing piece and then follows the instructions on thespace.

A player landing on one of the first plurality of spaces receives fundscorresponding to the value of the space. A player landing on one of thesecond plurality of spaces acquires one of the playing cards inaccordance with the instructions on the space. A player landing on oneof the third plurality of spaces is required to pay the funds determinedfor the value of the emergency or utilizing one of the playing cardsspecific for the emergency to either reduce or eliminate the cost of theemergency. If the player does not have sufficient funds to cover thecost of the emergency, they are bankrupt and leave the game. The gamecontinues until only one player has funds remaining.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A preferred embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in theattached drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of emergency preparedness game of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A preferred embodiment of a board game of the present invention isillustrated in the figure. The board game consists of a game board 12, aplurality of types of playing cards, preferably planning cards 14,prevention cards 16, and preparedness cards 18, game pieces 20 and ameans for randomly determining a number of spaces on the game board tobe moved such as one or more die 22. The game board 12 has a start areawhich in the preferred embodiment is labeled as START 24 and a number ofspaces on which a player may land depending on the roll of the die 22.The spaces are labeled either as various emergencies 26 or variousreward spaces 28 and 30 where a player may pick one of the three typesof cards 28 or will obtain funding 30 from a funding agency. While inthe embodiment illustrated in the figure, the path of the player aroundthe board 12 is along a circular path, other paths such as a square orspiral may also be utilized.

The game of the present invention also includes a fund of play money invarious denominations preferably fake bills of $100, $200, $500 and$1,000.

The players, preferably from 2 to 4 players, each select a differentcolor game piece to use as their individual place holder for the game. Aselected amount of play money, for example $3,000, is initially providedto each of the players from a fund of money by a player selected to bethe bank. Preferably, each of the players is also given one card fromeach of the categories of cards to start the game. The players in thegame will then roll the die and the player with the highest number onthe die starts the game. The player rolls the die and moves his gamepiece a number of spaces on the board in a clockwise direction accordingto the number displayed on the die. The player carries out theinstructions associated with the space on the board on which his piecehas landed and then the next player in turn will roll the die and movehis game piece carrying out the instructions on the space on which thehis game piece has landed.

A first series of spaces 28 on the board randomly distributed around theboard contain a card symbol, either a preparedness card, prevention cardor planning card. When the player lands on one of these spaces, heselects the card from the top of the pile of the respective cards andretains the card for future use.

A second series of spaces 30 randomly distributed about the board permitthe player to accumulate further funds from the bank. These spaces mayinclude the start space, government grant space or various other typesof means to obtain funds such as disaster relief fund, insurance refund,industry support, etc.

The game also includes a third series of spaces 26 randomly situatedabout the board. Each of the third series of spaces designate aparticular type of emergency such as chemical spill, thunderstorm, poweroutage, snowstorm, epidemic, fire, heat wave, tornado, flood,earthquake, nuclear spill, etc. Each of these emergencies is allocated adollar value associated with the cost of the emergency. Thus, forexample, emergencies such as chemical spill, thunderstorm, and poweroutages are allocated a dollar value of $400 while snowstorm, epidemic,fire and heat wave are valued at $800 and tornado, flood, earthquake andnuclear spill are valued at $1,200. The dollar value associated with theparticular emergency is preferably selected to reflect the extent of theemergency and the resources which would normally be required to dealwith such an emergency. While the emergency spaces of the various valuesmay be randomly distributed around the entire board, it is preferred ifemergencies of a similar dollar value are grouped together in aparticular region of the boar. Thus, for example, the first series ofemergency spaces on the board are those with the dollar value of $400followed by the series of emergencies with the dollar value of $800 andfinally the series of emergencies with the dollar value of $1,200.

The playing cards 14, 16 and 18 are utilized to reduce or eliminate theamount of money required to be spent for a particular emergency.

The highest level of playing cards is the prevention cards 16 as thesecards may be utilized to eliminate the emergency. Examples of suchprevention cards 16 are a vaccine card for use in epidemics, a tie downcard for use in tornadoes or earthquakes, a map card for use in lostemergencies, a pump card for use in floods, a generator card for use instorms, power outages, earthquakes and tornadoes, a checklist card foruse in any emergency, an extinguisher card for use in fire, a fan cardfor use in a heat wave, an anti-bacterial soap card for use in epidemicsand floods, nuclear placard for use in spills and nuclear spills, anevacuation card for use in nuclear spills and a shade card for use inheat wave. As can be appreciated, some of the cards are for use in asingle type of emergency while other cards are useful in more than onetype of emergency. The prevention cards 16 teach the player the types ofresources or actions which can be implemented prior to an emergency toeliminate the effects of the emergency or perhaps even to prevent theemergency from taking place.

A second series of cards are the planning cards 14. In the embodiment ofthe game of the present invention, planning cards 14 can be utilized toreduce in half the cost of the emergency. Examples of such planningcards 14 may be out-of-town contact card for use in any emergency, asafe room card for use in a tornado or earthquake, an insurance card foruse in any emergency, a shelter in place plan card for use in spills andnuclear spills, a do not use phone card for use in a thunderstorm, a donot use TV card for use in a thunderstorm or power outage, a phone cardfor use in any emergency, a medicine card for use in epidemics, anevacuation plan card for use in fire, a lock card for use in anyemergency and a checklist card for use in fire. These cards 14 teach theplayer of the game some of the advance planning that can reduce theeffects of an emergency situation. Once again the cards 14 may be foruse in a single emergency or in more than one or all types ofemergencies.

The third category of cards is preparedness cards 18 which also willreduce the cost of an emergency by half. Examples for such cards 18include flashlight card for use in power outage, storms, tornadoes andearthquakes, whistle card for use in lost, tornadoes, earthquakes, poweroutages, battery card for use in any emergency, a radio card for use inany emergency, windowproofing card for use in spills and nuclear spills,water card for use in floods and heat waves, a smoke detector card foruse in fire, an anti-bacterial soap card for use in floods, an iodinecard for use in nuclear spills, a survival kit card for use in anyemergency, flares card for use in snowstorms or lost situations, foodcans card for use in floods, power outages, storms and tornadoes andblanket card for use in storms, power outages, floods and lost.

These preparedness cards 18 help teach the user of the game some of theresources which should be on hand in order to prepare for an emergencysituation that may arise. Similar to the other types of cards 14 and 16the card 18 may be for use in a single type of emergency or in more thanone or all emergencies.

The following is an exemplary list of the spaces on the game board intheir preferred sequence.

-   Start—where the player may receive $1,000 if landing on the space-   Chemical spill emergency $400 value-   Pick one preparedness card-   Thunderstorm emergency $400 value-   Pick one planning card-   Industry support receive $1,000-   Pick one prevention card-   Power outage emergency $400-   Pick one preparedness card-   Lost emergency $400-   Social Services grant to receive $1,000-   Snowstorm emergency $800-   Pick one planning card-   Epidemic emergency $800-   Pick one prevention card-   Insurance refund receive $1,000-   Pick one preparedness card-   Pick one planning card-   Fire emergency $800-   Heat wave emergency $800-   Provincial grant receive $1,000-   Pick one prevention card-   Tornado emergency $1,200-   Pick one preparedness card-   Disaster relief fund receive $1,000-   Pick one planning card-   Flood emergency $1,200-   Pick one prevention card-   Earthquake emergency $1,200-   Nuclear spill emergency $1,200

As noted above, to start the game, a selected amount of play money, forexample, as provided to each of the players, each of the players thenplaces his playing piece on the start space and the players roll the dieto determine who will start the game. The player with the highest numberon the die starts the game by rolling the die and moving his game piecea number of spaces on the board in a clockwise direction in accordancewith the number displayed on the die. The player carries out theinstructions associated with the space on the board on which his piecehas landed. If the player has landed on one of the first plurality ofspaces namely, a reward space, then the player receives the fundscorresponding to the value printed on the reward space. If the playerlands on one of the second plurality of spaces namely, the currentacquisition spaces then the player acquires one of the playing cards inaccordance with the instructions on the space. The card is retained bythe player to use at a future time. If the player lands on one of thethird plurality of spaces namely, one of the emergency spaces, theplayer may deal with the emergency by either paying the amount printedon the space or handing in one of the cards that has a direct link tothe emergency. The card returns to the bottom of the respective pile ofcards and only one card can be used for each emergency. If the cardbeing returned is a prevention card, then the prevention card cancelsthe cost of the emergency. If the card being returned is a planning orpreparedness card, then these cards reduce the cost of the emergency byone-half and the player is required to pay the balance of the funds tothe bank. If the player has more than one card useable for a particularemergency, he can select which of those cards he will use. If theplayer, for example, has a card that is useable only for the specificemergency as well as the card which is useable for more than oneemergency, then he will likely use the card which is useable only inthat specific emergency and save the other card for either one of theother emergencies, or for the next time he may land on that emergencyspace. Each player then takes their turn to continue the game.

If a player landing on an emergency space has no money or no valid cardor has insufficient money to pay the cost of the emergency, then theplayer declares bankruptcy and is out of the game. The other playerscontinue playing until only one player remains in the game. When aplayer stops on a space to acquire a card and there are no cards leftfrom the designated pile corresponding to that space, then a card may betaken from one of the other piles. If there are no cards remaining, thenthe game may end. The game ends when there is only one player remainingor there are no more emergency cards available. If more than one playerremains in the game, the players with cards hand them in to the bank inexchange for money, planning cards and preparedness cards are worth $400each and prevention cards are worth $800. The player with the most moneyat the end is the winner of the game.

In order to improve the teaching aspects of the game of the presentinvention, a variation would be to require the player to explain howthey would reduce the cost of a particular emergency with the planning,prevention or preparedness item described on the card. The other playersin the game will decide whether the explanation is a valid one. If theexplanation is not valid, then the player would forfeit the use of thecard and would be required to pay the full funds for the emergency. Inthis way, the players of the game are required to give thought to howthey will prepare and handle emergencies.

The game of the present invention allows for rapid inexpensive educationand training of persons to enable them to respond to emergencysituations such that they will have some knowledge of the appropriatereaction or the resources needed to handle a particular emergency. Thegame is of particular use for the general public and will provide theplayers with a strong foundation of knowledge for preparing foremergency situations. In this way, the potential effects of suchemergency situations may be reduced.

Although various preferred embodiments of the present invention havebeen described herein in detail, it would be appreciated by thoseskilled in the art that variations may be made thereto without departingfrom the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

1. A method of playing an educational game to teach emergencypreparedness for a plurality of players comprising the steps of:providing a game board containing a series of spaces on which eachplayer can land, the spaces including a first plurality of spacesinstructing a player to acquire a playing card, a second plurality ofspaces instructing a player to acquire funds for use in an emergency anda third plurality of spaces of a simulated emergency providing a fund ofplay money, providing a set of playing cards each having a depiction ofa resource which can be utilized in one or more emergencies, a fund ofplay money, a plurality of playing pieces and a means for randomlydetermining a number of spaces on the game board to be moved by eachplayer in turn for each player to land on a space on the board, a playerlanding on one of the first plurality of spaces receiving funds of playmoney corresponding to the value of the space, a player landing on oneof the second plurality of spaces acquiring one of the playing cards inaccordance with the instructions on the space, and a player landing onone of the third plurality of spaces being required to pay the fundsdetermined for the value of the emergency or utilizing one of theplaying cards specific for the emergency to either reduce or eliminatethe cost of the emergency.
 2. An educational game to teach emergencypreparedness to a plurality of players the game comprising: a game boardcontaining a series of spaces on which each player can land, the spacesincluding a first plurality of spaces instructing a player to acquire aplaying card, a second plurality of spaces instructing a player toacquire funds for use in an emergency and a third plurality of spaces ofa simulated emergency providing a fund of play money, a set of playingcards each having a depiction of a resource which can be utilized in oneor more emergencies, a plurality of game pieces to provide each playerwith an individual game piece, and a means for randomly determining anumber of spaces on the game board to be moved by each player in turnfor each player to land on a space on the board.